Member of Technical Staff - Kernels (AI)

TL;DR

Member of Technical Staff - Kernels (AI): Designing and maintaining high-performance kernels to optimize throughput and latency for frontier-scale AI systems with an accent on memory utilization and hardware efficiency. Focus on solving complex kernel optimization challenges for long-context workloads and evaluating alternative hardware platforms.

Location: On-site preferred in San Francisco or New York City, USA

Salary: $150,000 – $400,000

Company

An AI research company focused on building safe, advanced AI systems that automate research and code generation to solve global problems.

What you will do

• Design and implement kernels supporting high-performance long-context model behavior.
• Own the entire lifecycle of kernel design, implementation, deployment, and production reliability.
• Optimize memory movement, sustained throughput, and accelerator utilization for frontier-scale systems.
• Co-design kernels in collaboration with training, inference, and reinforcement learning teams.
• Evaluate and port compute kernels to alternative hardware platforms.

Requirements

• Low-level programming experience targeting AI accelerators such as GPUs or TPUs.
• Proficiency with kernel-authoring frameworks (e.g., CUDA, Triton, ROCm, Halide, CUTLASS).
• Deep expertise in computer architecture, memory systems, and low-level machine optimization.
• Strong understanding of training and inference workloads within machine learning systems.
• Must be based in or be able to relocate to the USA.

Nice to have

• Experience optimizing kernels specifically for long-context training or inference.
• Familiarity with attention kernel optimization or distributed training performance.
• Experience with non-GPU accelerator backends.
• Proven track record of deploying high-performance kernels in large-scale ML production.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity.
• Retirement plan with employer matching.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Relocation and visa support where possible.
• Collaborative, fast-moving environment focused on high-quality execution.